
Glass 
Book. 







/ 



/ 



OUR COUNTRY'S EVILS 



AND 




THEIR REMEDY 



„x 






BY Bf P; AYDELOTT, D. D. 



phesident of woodward college, cfncinnati, and pro- 
fessor OF MORAL AND POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY. 



[^ U. S. A, 




CINCINNATI: 
GEORGE L. WEED, 

AT THE BIBLE, TIIACT, AKD SUJifDAT-SCHOOL DErOSITGRT. 



1843. 






[Nearly the whole of what is here published, was 
delivered as ^n Address at the Annual Commencement 
of Woodward College, Cincinnati, June 29th, 1843.] 



KENDALL ANP 13ARNA.RD, PRINT. 



TO THE HON. D. K. ESTE, 

JUDGE OF THE SUPERIOR COURT OF CINCUNNATI : 

Dear Sir,— In such a government as ours, public senti- 
ment is the real sovereign. Its sway is unlimited and 
all-powerful. Our character and our well-being, as a 
people, alike depend upon it. It is therefore at all times 
important, that each one, in liis sphere, contribute his 
utmost to render public sentiment what it ought to be. 
But there are particular junctures when this individual 
effort is specially called for. The present is such a 
crisis. Every thing about us constrains us to deep and 
serious thought. And if ever it was our duty, in a kindly 
and peaceful spirit, to speak out our thoughts frankly and 
firmly, it is now. Our country demands this. All her 
most precious interests are at stake. Never was a right 
public sentiment so important as at the present moment: 
and as every one, however humble his influence, can 
contribute something towards it, so let none supinely or 
timidly shrink back from this duty. He cannot escape 
tlie responsibility. His country, the other nations of the 
earth, -.vho have so deep interest in our great experiment 
of free institutions, the God of nations will all hold him 
to a strict account in this matter, for what he does, and 
for what he does not. 



iv I>-TRODUCTIOX. 

The subjects brought forward in the following Address, 
are full of interest to every American, to every friend of 
civil and religious liberty. They involve not only the 
character, prosperity and happiness of our country, but 
the very stability of her institutions. A right apprecia- 
tion of these subjects is essential, not merely to our 
national welfare, but to our national existence. I have 
tlierefore spoken, I trust, wdth becoming plainness and 
candor, as well as kindness. To be reserved here, would 
in me be inexcusable. My position imperatively calls 
for the daily examination and discussion of tliese 
subjects. 

When will we learn that it is always the best policy, 
(to say nothing of duty,) closely to scrutinize, candidly 
acknowledge, and faithfully correct existing evils ? This 
is the only effectual way to counteract the efforts of the 
enemies of social order, and of many well-meaning, but 
mistaken and mischievous reformers. It may well be 
doubted whether such agitation could long be kept up 
without some occasion. Do not the advocates of all 
Utopian schemes, as Socialism, St. Simonism, Fourier- 
ism, etc., and those who attack the present state of society, 
derive their chief strength from pointing to undeniable 
existing evils ? Remove these, and such visionaries, and 
agitators would have nothing to feed upon. They would 
die from pure inanition. But pride, and prejudice, and 
selfishness with its thousand influences, too often incline 
us under these circumstances, to cling tlie more closely 
even to what is wrong, whilst we endeavor in vain to 
resist the assaults of innovators. In vain, because if one 



INTRODUCTION. V 

onset be repelled, another, and another, will be made, so 
lone- as there are real ills to excite and sustain them. 

Need I say to what standard we must come, if we 
would rightly judge and safely reform? Whatever is 
inconsistent with a Bible Christianity must be given up. 
There is no other way to secure true peace, order, 
freedom, virtue, happiness. 

We cannot, as most other nations, cast the blame of 
existing evils upon our laws, institutions or rulers, for all 
these are just what we ourselves choose to make them. 
We willed them into being, and may abolish them at our 
pleasure. If such liberty is a most invaluable privilege, 
let it not be forgotten that it involves also a fearful 
responsibility. And not only is our whole nation ac- 
countable in this matter, but each individual must bear a 
portion of the blame. We then, of all people, ought to 
be not only intelligent, honest, self-searching, but frank, 
" desirous to knoAv the truth, and resolute to obey it. And 
no one of us should be willing to let his individuality 
be swallowed up, as it were, and lost in the mass of 
a party, or the community. This would be a base 
surrender of his rights, even if by so doing he could 
escape his responsibility. Independence of thought and 
action is the precious birth-right of every American 
citizen; the talent which Providence has entrusted to 
his stewardship. 

Let me add, that if my conviction of the truth of the 
sentiments advanced in the following pages could have 
been strengthened, it certainly would have been by 

tliose expressions of entire concurrence witli which you 

1* 



VI I>'TRODUCTION. 

listened to them, previously to their public delivery, as 
well as on that occasion. After fifteen years of close 
intimacy between us, part of the time as pastor and 
parishioner, and always as friends, I cannot be insensible 
to the value of such approbation ; proceeding, as I well 
know it does, from a rare soundness of judgment and 
unbending integrity. 

If I can, by this humble effort, excite increased atten- 
tion to the truth, that — the Christianity of the 
Bible is the salvatiox of our Country, — and 
impress this great truth more deeply on the hearts of 
any, I shall feel myself abundantly rewarded. 

That you may be long spared to fulfil the duties of 
your important station, and at last receive the righteous 
approval of the Sovereign Judge. of us all, is the sincere 
prayer of your friend and servant, 

B. P. AYDELOTT. 



OUR COUNTRY'S EVILS 



AND 



THEIR REMEDY. 



Our country is in a critical state. To say 
this is merely to repeat a remark which falls 
upon the ear from all classes, and from almost 
every individual. Foundations, if not breaking 
up, are fearfully assailed. Not only is embar- 
rassment, deep, distressing embarrassment, uni- 
versally come upon us, but a feeling of insecurity 
has gone through the land. Every one distrusts 
his neighbor ; multitudes distrust the govern- 
ment. Men's hearts are every where failing 
them for fear, and for looking after those things 
which are coming on the earth. 

What christian, what patriot, who that truly 
regards his own welfare, does not heartily wish 
for a better state of things ? All interests are 
sufiering. And there can be no well-founded, 
lasting quiet or prosperity for us, till the evils 
which have come upon us be removed. 



8 



OUR country's evils 



We have too generally looked every way for 
help, but to the right quarter. We have tried 
expedient after expedient ; one party has been 
raised up, and another cast down, and every day 
has brought forth its new measures ; but all in 
vain, and worse than vain. The sick man in the 
excitement of fever tosses from side to side, but 
finds ease in none, nor can he, till his disease be 
removed. So it is with our country ; we are 
convulsed, we are pining awaj^, and no mere 
change of policy or of rulers can bring us relief. 
The disease must be removed. And it is here 
also, as in the natural body, the first step to- 
v^ards a cure is a knowledge of the disorder. 

We propose, on the present occasion, to go 
into as full a view of the evils of our country as 
our time will admit. And this, thank heaven, 
v/e are prepared to do, not merely with the con- 
fidence of the physician, however strong, that he 
can scarcely fail to relieve what he thoroughly 
understands, but with the full assurance that we 
have a remedy — one infiillible remedy — for all 
the evils of our country, — provided it be faith- 
fully used. 

We arc no alarmist ; on the contrary, our 
faith in free institutions never vn^is stronger. 



AND THEIR REMEDY. 



Our country, we believe, will come out of her 
present trials not only with a larger experience, 
but with a higher character ard renewed ener- 
gies. Neither would we needlessly expose her 
evils : but let partizans flatter the people. He 
is a friend indeed who tells us the truth, and 
gives us honest counsel. To do this, he must 
sacrifice his feelings, and too often his present 
interests. But we cannot believe that such 
fidelity will be always misunderstood. So sure 
as our country is yet sound at heart, truth and 
honest counsel will in the long run be properly 
appreciated. 

I. Let us then, proceed to notice some of the 

EVILS op OUR STATE. 

1. Is there not a wide spread departure from 
strict integrity ? Everyman and every com- 
munity are bound, to the utmost of their ability, 
so to manage their affairs as to meet all their 
obligations. To do this is to act uprightly — 
not to do it is to be dishonest. The man who 
deliberately intends to defraud you of your pro- 
perty, or to withhold from you your due, is 
certainly a knave. But he also who does not 
bestow all due consideration and pains to fulii 



10 OUR country's evils 

his engagements, is not a man of integrity. To 
say that we are willing, but not able, to discharge 
our obligations, is not always a sufficient justifi- 
cation. But is our inability such as no ordinary 
prudence or exertion could guard against ? If 
not, it is not a righteous plea. We are blame- 
worthy, because we might have prevented our 
inability, and we were bound to do so. 

Now in the light of these plain, common-sense 
principles of honesty look abroad over the land. 

What multitudes, infatuated with dreams of 
wealth, have broken through all the bounds of 
reason and prudence, and plunged into the wild- 
est speculations ! They have thus brought upon 
themselves, and spread all around them most 
painful embarrassment, and in very many cases 
irretrievable ruin. 

What numbers have, every where rushed into 
business with little or no knowledge or fitness, 
or with little or no capital and without any rea- 
sonable prospect of the aid of others ! The re- 
sult, in a few years, or perhaps months was obvi- 
ous. They lived prosperously, promised largely, 
till pay-day could be put ofi' no longer, and then 
bankruptcy came. 

What extravagance in houses, furniture, equi- 



^ AND THEIR REMEDY. H 

page, dress and luxurious living, is every where 
beheld ! Multitudes are clothed in purple and 
fine linen, and fare sumptuously every day, and 
give costly entertainments, too, as though they 
were really worth thousands, when every one 
knows that they are hopelessly insolvent. 

Now what ought we to think of such persons ? 
What must we think of them ? Are they up- 
right ? Are they men of strict integrity ? Far 
from it. Some of them never intended to meet 
their ohligations ; the rest, and we fear much the 
larger part of them, took no proper thought or 
pains to do it. Can we help then in the light 
of plain common-sense principles of honesty, 
pronouncing of them all, that they have departed 
from a strict integrity ? 

And so wide spread is this evil in some parts 
of our land that it has affected even the action of 
the government, and thus given character to the 
community. At least one State has deliberately 
repudiated its debts,— openly avowed by its Le- 
gislature its determination not to pay them. Others, 
with somewhat less hardihood, have negleUed io 
discharge their obligations. And others, again, 
have put off their creditors with a species of due 
bill which they cannot turn into currency without 



12 OUR country's evils 

a sacrifice of a fourth or a third part of the whole. 
In this way the laboring man, and he who has fur- 
nished property for public uses, are defrauded of a 
large portion of their dues. One State which boasts 
loudly of its integrity, and tells to the world that 
"repudiation is a word unknown in its borders,'^ 
has seized upon its school-fund, and appropriated 
it to pay for its canals and other works of inter- 
nal improvement, and left the poor teacher, rob- 
bed of his all, to starve, or flee away to a more 
honest community. 

. Now from whatever source it proceeds — 
whether from open and avowed repudiation, or 
neglect, or inability arising out of reckless ex- 
penditure — the State that does not pay its debts, 
acts dishonestly. Communities as well as indi- 
viduals, are bound, to the utmost of their ability, 
so to manage their affairs as to meet all their ob- 
ligations. There may indeed be difierent degrees 
of guilt here, but in every such case of failure 
there is a departure from strict integrity. 

2. False social j^rincij^les are very widely 
entertained. 

«.^"^hat is it that the artfal and selfish dema- 
gogue appeals to, when lie endeavors to array the 
poor against the rich? Would not all his 



AND THEIR REMEDY. 13 

harangues fall harmless on the popular ear, were it 
not for another corrupt teaching which he has 
previously endeavoured to instil into their mind, 
viz, that in a Republic there should be equality 
of condition? — a sentiment than which none can 
be more foolish or mischievous. Foolishyhe- 
cause were such equality brought about, it could 
not possibly continue; mischievous, for were it 
possible, so long as it lasted it would well nigh 
destroy society. For what principally keeps so- 
ciety together ? Is it not mutual interest ? And 
why is there such constant and kindly intercoure 
among men ? Is it not because each one hopes 
thus to better his condition ? But let there be a 
perfect equality of condition — reduce society to 
a dead level, and the streams of social intercourse 
would no more flow, and the fountains of enter- 
prise and benevolence soon dry up. The aspect 
of society, instead of presenting the bloom and 
the fruitfulness which it does when left to the 
operation of those laws which a beneficent Pro- 
vidence has impressed upon it, would exhibit one 
vast marsh with its stagnant pools and noxious 
vapors engendering disease and death. The 
mountains and the hills are as necessary on our 

globe as the vallies. Where would be the abun- 
2 



14 OUR country's evils 

dance of the one without the fertilizing streams 
of the other ? 

Political equality is indeed essential to a free 
government. It is this which has let loose the 
springs of enterprise and spread far and wide 
such prosperity over our land. But equality of 
condition would speedily destroy all these bless- 
ings, or rather they never could be brought into 
existence in such a state. Equality of condition 
must, in the very nature of things, strip political 
equality of all its power to do good. 

b. There is another false sentiment which is 
doing its work of mischief among us. It is the 
opinion ihsit projyert^ is altogether the creature 
of law. Some things — as houses, lands, goods 
— are mine because the law has endowed me 
with them, and declares them to be mine, and 
protects me in the possession and enjoyment of 
them. So that were the law different, this whole 
right of property would be changed, and my 
neighbor justly have what I call mine, and I be 
stripped of every thing, or put into ownership 
of what some others now claim. 

The influence of this false sentiment is seen 
not only in the endeavors of individuals to wrest 
from others whatever the law will allow them, 



AND THEIR REMEDY. 15 

without the slightest reference to moral right ; 
but it is seen also in the movements of political 
parties, and in the action of legislative bodies, 
spreading a disastrous feeling of uncertainty and 
distress throughout the country. No one feels 
secure j no one knows what a day may bring 
forth. 

c. Another false sentiment in the minds of 
many is that govey^nment is founded on mutu- 
al co'tn2oact. The tendency of this notion is to 
impair men's reverence for the civil authority, 
and to encourage reckless assaults upon the first 
principles of social order. 

From this also it is argued that as all the pow- 
ers of government are derived from individual 
concession, and as no one has the right to take 
his own life, so he could not give such a right to 
the government ; and consequently capital pun- 
ishments are wrong — an unjust, arbitrary assump- 
tion on the part of the powers that be. The 
favourers of this opinion would substitute for 
capi.tal punishment, imprisonment for life or a 
term of years. But the argument proves too 
much, and is therefore good for nothing. A man 
has no more right to imprison himself, and thus 
cut himself off from all the duties of society? 



16 OUR COUNTRY^S EVILS 

than he has to hang himself, and hence he could 
concede neither to the magistrate. The govern- 
ment however may justly do both, not indeed 
from any human compact. It derives its power 
from a far higher source. 

d. One other false sentiment we will just 
glance at. It is that the reason or ground of 
all jjunishment is to protect society y or to jire- 
vent crime^or to uphold government , or to re- 
form the offender, or to obtain, if possible, all 
these advantages. Now we shall not stop here 
to expose this error, or notice the mischief it is 
producing. We would only observe at this stage 
of our remarks that not one or all the advantages, 
above enumerated, are the true reason or ground 
of punishment — they are merely incidental bene- 
fits arising out of the infliction of penal suffering, 
which benefits we ouglit indeed thankfully to 
accept and improve. But the true reason or 
ground for punishing a malefactor is simply be- 
cause justice demands it. Where there is no 
such demand, it is manifestly wrong to punish, 
however profitable we might deem it. And on 
the other hand wherever justice lays her claim, 
retribution ought to fall upon the guilty head, 
even though we could see none of these inciden- 



AND THEIR RExMEDY. 17 

tal benefits to result from the infliction. To 
think and act otherwise is to substitute expedien- 
cy for justice ; and subject ourselves to the re- 
proach of the very heathen who could say — Flat 
justitia, mat coelum. 

3. Political corruption is another wide spread 
evil of our country. 

How many political papers are characterized 
by candor and fair dealing towards their op- 
ponents ? And how many by disingenuous- 
ness and downright misrepresentatiou ? Has it 
not come to such a pass, that each party re- 
sents it as the grossest injustice to be judged of 
by the prints of the other ? — thus mutually 
proclaiming their crime and shame ? 

And do we not every day see men of all par- 
ties in their eager desire to make political capital 
of whatever transpires, wholly forgetful of their 
country's good ? The peace of tlie nation is 
often thus selfishly imperiled, and our most im- 
portant institutions wickedly assailed. The vilest 
men are exalted, and the purest patriots depreci- 
ated just as it may suit party purposes. What 
partizan leader ever fears that he will lose his 
seat in the legislative hall, because he has there 



18 



OUR COUNTRY'S EVILS 



exhibited himself a blackguard, a blasphemer, a 
bully, or a duelist ? 

4. A sjnrit of lawlessness has gone over the 
land. 

All our large cities have been the theatres of 
mob violence ; and the evil has spread into many 
villages ; and even the country has not entirely 
escaped this disgrace. Such scenes have not al- 
ways been the spontaneous outbreak of ignorant 
and vicious men, lewd fellows of the base sort. 
These have been instigated by others far above 
them, intelligent, respectable men, men who 
ought to have known better, and who have a 
deep interest in the peace and good order of so- 
ciety. But with an infatuation as wonderful as 
it is mournful, when they have seen in others, 
equally estimable and well meaning as themselves, 
what they could not approve, instead of meeting 
it with fair argument and other peaceful and law- 
ful means, they have taken the most effectual 
measures to create popular excitement against 
them. And whilst with this suicidal policy en- 
deavoring to put down their fellow citizens, by 
the clamor and the fury of a mob, they are heard 
to deplore the very violence which they them- 
selves have occasioned. They have loaded and 



) 



AND THEIR REMEDY. 19 

pointed the artillery, and tiien lifted up the voice 
of wailing at its destructive effects ; and not only 
so, but endeavored to throw the whole weight of 
the blame upon the victims of their policy. 

In some parts of the country mobs have bro- 
ken up the courts of law, and suspended the ad- 
ministration of justice, and subjected the peacea- 
ble part of the community to their tyrannous 
sway. 

But these outrages have not been confined to 
the multitude, our halls of legislation have too 
often exhibited them. Threats of personal vio- 
lence have been used, and even battles fought in 
these high places. In one instance a member 
was most brutally assassinated in his place by a 
fellow member, and in another case a member 
was shot down after leaving the house. 

5. A recklessness of life and property is an- 
other of the evils of the day. 

For accidental injuries no one certainly is to 
be blamed. But what is an accidental injury ? 
It is such a disaster as that exercise of prudence 
and care which the case demanded, could not pre- 
vent. The question then in every case is, was 
the due measure of prudence and care employ- 
ed ? If not they who are guilty of the neglect 



so 



OUR country's evils 



ought to be held responsible for all damages. No- 
thing can be more reasonabe and right than this. 

But the spirit of competition, the desire of 
gain, and the influence of intoxicating drinks are 
constantly impelling men to violate this princi- 
ple, especially where there is no law holding them 
to account or the law is rarely executed. Hence 
those numerous disasters on land and on water, 
in all parts of our country, which meet our eye 
in every day's paper. It is ajopaling to reflect 
upon this destruction of life and property. But 
it is nearly all covered up under the one conve- 
nient word, accidental, and so every body for- 
gets the calamity, except the unhappy sufferers, 
or bereaved friends. And 3^et it is not unreason- 
able or uncharitable to say that in nine cases out 
of ten, these evils are the result of culpable care- 
lessness, or of something worse. Only make 
those concerned in public conveyances, and all 
to whom life and property are committed, res- 
ponsible for their safety, and in every instance of 
damage let them be compelled to shew that they 
have employed all due prudence and care, or fail- 
ing in this, let them be visited wiih the righteous 
penalty of law ; and these accidents would be of 
rare occurrence. 



AND THEIR REMEDY. 21 

Common humanity, as well as justice, requires 
that there should be such laws, and that not one 
of \vhat are usually called accidents should be 
passed over without strict legal investigation. It 
is unreasonable and wrong that any thing should 
be regarded and treated as an accident which 
might have been prevented by due prudence and 
care. Neglect in such cases is always criminal, 
and should meet with condign punishment. 

There is one circumstance very commonly at- 
tending such accidents which shews what is really 
the voice of conscience and common sense. We 
allude to those exculpatory statements which are 
usually published by the party concerned in in- 
flicting the evil. But it needs hardly be said that 
little confidence ought to be placed in these one 
sided, inforensic accounts. They prove very 
clearly, however, what their authors themselves, 
as well as the public think of the criminality of 
imprudence and carelessness. 

In Europe, we are credibly informed that evils 
of the kind now under consideration, are always 
strictly inquired into, and blameworthiness suit- 
ably punished. Hence such accidents are there 
of rare occurrence. The life o^di subject, it would 
seem, is reckoned worth something j but the de- 



22 OUR country's evils 

struction of a score or two of citizens is, among 
US; accounted a matter of little importance, 

6. Inadequate legal protection and red^^css 
is another fruitful source of evils. 

Under our last head a numerous class of these 
evils was spoken of, but there are many more. 
Every individual has, in one way or another 
suffered from this cause. The public papers 
teem with complaints from all parts of our coun- 
tr}^ Multitudes, for example, have been grossly 
wronged ; many widows and children cheated 
of their all, by individuals and corporations. 
And yet how seldom have such cases of swin- 
dling been suitably punished ? While the poor 
victim is stricken down by the calamity, the 
author of it rides on in guilty prosperity. Need 
we wonder at the popular outcry which such 
scenes have excited, and at the stern but unwise 
legislation which it is likely to call forth ? 
These enactments, rash and harsh as they may 
be, are not mere party measures. Indeed, no 
party would have dared to venture upon them 
were it not for the assurance that they would 
find support in the deep conviction and indig- 
nation of the multitude. 

Again : there is, perhaps, no class of persons 



AND THEIR REMEDY. 



23 



whose rights are less respected than that of 
creditors. The whole stream of legislation 
seems to favor the debtor ; so much so, as often 
to inflict most palpable injury upon the credi- 
tor. Hindrances are purposely multiplied in 
the way of the most righteous claims, so as to 
defer their enforcement as long as possible ; and 
indeed, in some parts of the country, it is in this 
way made wholly impossible to collect debts. 
Further, how many injuries of other kinds, are 
daily suffered, for which there is either no legal 
remedy, or one so slight that it seems a mere 
mockery of justice. It is this insufficiency of 
law, which so often calls forth private revenge. 
Individuals burning under WTong, and finding 
that they can have no redress at the public 
tribunals, take the case into their own hands. 
What adequate reparation would the law have 
given to that brother in Philadelphia, for the 
crime and the brutal sneers of his sister's se- 
ducer ? Where rests the guilt of the horrid 
assassination that followed ? The miserable 
brother was indeed deeply criminal ; but equal- 
ly certain is it that not a small portion of the 
guilt rests upon the community which neglected 
to provide an adequate punishment for the ori- 



24 



OUR COUNTRY S EVILS 



ginal wrong. Outraged nature will in such cases 
cry out, and at times, pour the flood of a terrible 
vengeance upon the head of the unpunished 
offender,* 

There are also many insults, indignities, and 
annoyances of various kinds, which persons of 
bad passions or malignant spirit, inflict upon 
others, but for which the law affords little or no 
redress. Hence some feel themselves compelled 
to stand in their own defence, others are pro- 
voked to retaliate, and, as is generally the case, 
bj their excessive resentment they become them- 
selves in turn the offenders. Thus the peace of 
society is continually broken. 

Arson has become quite a common offence, 
and yet it is one of very deep dye. Indeed, to 
set fire to an inhabited house, may involve all 
the malignity of murder ; hence in some of the 
States, it is equally punished. 

Even the murderer is very frequently suffered 
to escape. Either he is not presented at all — as 



♦ Since the above was written, we find by the public prints 
that a bill has been introduced in the Legii-lature of Pennsyl- 
vania, making seduction a penitentiary offence, and giving to 
the aggrieved party the right of suit for pecuniary damages. 

A similar bill has also been brought forward in the Legisla- 
ture of New York. 



AND THEIR REMEDY. 25 

in the case of that minister of the gospel who 
was, not long since, assassinated just after public 
worship, and in the presence of many witnesses, 
and yet the homicide was permitted to depart 
without even an indictment; — or if he is put on 
trial, and the murder is proved by the clearest 
evidence, it is often found impossible to procure 
a conviction, owing to the alleged scruples of 
some juror who is opposed to capital punish- 
ment. Thus, with a monstrous inconsistency, 
the man pleads conscience, while he is violating 
his oath to bring in a verdict according to evi- 
dence. Instead of confining himself to the facts 
of the case, which is his sworn duiy, he sets 
himself up as a judge of the lavv for which he is 
no way responsible, and thus defeats justice and 
turns a murderer loose upon societ}^ 

In other cases the homicide is admitted to a 
trifling bail, and when the time of trial comes, 
he is not to be found. Even the sureties not 
un frequently escape the pecuniary penalty, small 
as it is, in which they have bound themselves. 
But where the bail is large and faithfully dis- 
charged, what redress does it bring to the suffer- 
ing survivors ? It is obviously right that the 

money should, at least in some cases, go to the 
3 



36 OUR country's evils 

bereaved and perhaps destitute widows and 
orphans, and not be thrown into the public 
treasury. 

But in no crime more than in that of duelling 
is the inadequacy of legal protection and redress 
more painfully manifest. Of the multitude of 
murderers of this class in our country, it is be- 
lieved that not one ever yet met the due reward 
of his iniquity on the gallows. Except in the 
consciences and the fears of individuals, wives 
and children have scarcely any security against 
bereavement from this source. But it is reason- 
able and right, that the estate of the successful 
duellist, after he has undergone the punishment 
of his blood guiltiness, should be liable to civil 
suit for damages. Let the ruthless hand that 
has smitten down the support of the family, be 
compelled to sustain it, 

7. Oppression is another cryins; evil of the 

land. 

Few things can be more painful to every just 
man amonn; us, few things can more deeply tinge 
our cheeks with shame as Am.ericnn citizens, 
than the cruel wrongs inflicted upon the abori- 
gines of our country. We do not here refer to 
our early colonial history, and the bloody strifes 



AND THEIR REMEDY. 27 

with the red man, which so often stain its pages. 
It is to our treatment of those with whom we 
had made the most solemn compacts, and who 
in rehance upon these had nearly abandoned 
then- rude modes of living, and were rapidly ad- 
vancing in the education, the arts, the morals, 
and the comforts of civilized life. Their pos- 
sessions were secured to them "as long as grass 
grows and water runs," — by every tie which 
could bind a nation's honor and conscience. But 
these treaty stipulations were all shamelessly 
broken, and the weaker party compelled to 
abandon the home of his childhood and the 
grave of his fathers, and again plunge into the 
wilderness afar off. Many perished by the way; 
and of the miserable remnant, many sunk under 
the privations of their new home. But the pos- 
sibility of this species of oppression has for the 
present well nigh passed away, just because the 
objects of it have been driven beyond the reach 
of this generation's cupidity.' 



* 



* For a very able and minute detail of these broken treaties, 
and a touching narrative of the frauds and oppressions practised 
upon the helpless Indians, the reader is referred to a series of 
articles which appeared in the New York Observer about seven- 
teen years ago, signed William Penn, — since known to be (he 
late Jeremiah Evarts of Boston, — a man, whose labors and 



28 OUR country's evils 

But is there not another sore evil of this kind 
among us ? Are there not at this moment in 
our land two millions and a half of native born 
Americans, stripped of every right? Human 
beings made in God's own image, and yet 
bought and sold like cattle ? This is a subject 
that has awakened the thoughts and touched the 
hearts of men of Ull parties, from Washington 
and Jefferson, down to Adams, and Jay, and Key 
of our day. And the wise and the pious of 
every religious denomination have, with the 
Edwards, and Benezets, and Finleys, of former 
times, united their counsels and their prayers for 
the removal of this great national evil. Indeed, 
during a residence of years in the midst of sla- 
very, we never met with but one individual who 
did not profess to deplore it as our country's 
heaviest calamity. Now, however, many have 
changed their language ; but their convictions, 
we believe, are still the same as ever, and no 
influence can much longer restrain the expres- 
sion of them. Tlic present position of the 
public mind on this subject, is, to a great extent, 

sacrifices for the cause of humanity can be fully known only at 
the last day. His death was in glorious unison with the 
sublime disinterestedness of his life, 



AND THEIR REMEDY. 29 

altogether unnatural, un-Jimerican, Its incon- 
sistency is too deeply felt to suffer us to stand 
still, and, — vve cannot go backward. 

But in the righteous retributions of Provi- 
dence, evils must and will befal the oppressor, 
and these evils will continue to increase and 
multiply till he turn from his way, or perish. 
It is melancholy to contemplate those pictures of 
decay and dilapidation which the most eminent 
Southern statesmen* have given us, of that part 



* We would call the attention of our readers merely to two 
brief pictures, drawn by unexceptionable hands. The one is a 
sketch of a slave-holding region ; the other, a contrasted view of 
the enterprise and prosperity of the free North, and " the pre- 
mature old age and decay" of the enslaved South, where " no 
improvement is seen going on, nothing is done for posterity. No 
man thinks of any thing beyond the present moment." 

"Look at South Carolina now, with her houses deserted and 
falling to decay, her once fruitful fields worn out and abandoned 
for want of timely improvement, or skilful cultivation; and her 
thousands of acres of inexhaustible lands still piomising an abun- 
dant harvest to the industrious husDandman, lying idle and 
neglected. In the interior of the State where I was born, and 
where I now live, altliough a country possessing all the advan- 
tages of soil, climate and health, abounding in arable land, unre- 
claimed from the fi:st rude state of nature, there can now be 
found many neighborhoods where the population is too span-c to 
support a common elementary school for children. Such is the 
deplorable condition of one of the oldest members of this union, 
that dates back its settlement more than a century and a half, 
3* 



30 OUR country's evils 

of our country, and to see all these so strikingly 
verified in the results of our national census. 



while other States, born as it were but yesterday, already sur- 
pass what Carolina was or ever has been in the happiest and 
proudest day of her prosperity." 

[Mr. Clowney, M. C. from South Carolina, on the floor 
of Congress.] 

"No Southern man can journey (as he had lately done) 
through the Northern States, and witness the prosperity, the 
industry, the public spirit which they exhibit — the sedulous cul- 
tivation of all those arts by which life is rendered comfortable 
and respectable ; without feelings of deep sadness and shame as 
he remembers his own neglected and desolate home. There, 
no dwelling is to be seen abandoned — not a farm uncultivated. 
Every person and every thing performs a part towards the grand 
result; and the whole land is covered with fertile fields, with 
manufactories, and canals, and railroads, and edifices, and towns, 
and cities. We of the South are mistaken in the character of 
these people, when we think of them only as pedlars in horn 
flints and bark nutmegs. Their energy and enterprise are di- 
rected to all objects, great and small, within their reach. The 
number of railroads and other modes of expeditious intercommu- 
nication knit the whole country into a closely compacted mass, 
through which the productions of commerce and of the press, 
the comforts of life and the means of knowledge, are universally 
diffused ; while the close intercourse of travel and of business 
makes all neighbors, and promotes a common interest and a 
common sympathy. How different the condition of these things 
in the South ! Here the face of the country wears the aspect of 
premature old age and decay. No improvement is seen 
aoiNG ox, nothing is done for posterity. No man thinks of any 
thing beyond the present moment.'' 

[Mr. Preston^ a Senator from South Carolina, on the floor 
of the Seriate of the U. S.] 



AND THEIR REMEDY. 31 

But it is not a decline in mere temporal pros- 
perity ; — education, religion, every thing which 
strengthens, and elevates, and purifies society, — 
is there suffering. No patriot, no christian, 
can think of these things, without awful fore- 
bodings.* 

* Thus speaks a very respectable and widely circulated reli- 
gious periodical of the South. 

" Hatred to the whites with the exception in some cases, of 
attachment to the person and family of the master, is nearly 
universal among the black population. We have then a foe 
cherished in our very bosoms — a foe willixg to draw^ our 
tiFE-BLooD whenever the opportunity is offered; in the mean 
time intent on doing us all the mischief in his power." — 
[Southern Religious Telegraph.] 

Listen also to the language of Mr. Harding, of the Kentucky 
Legislature, in 1841. 

*' In such a state of things, suppose an insurrection of the 
slaves to take place. The master has become timid and fearful, 
the slave bold and daring — the white men, overpowered with a 
sense of superior numbers on the part of the slaves, cannot be 
embodied together ; evert/ man must guard his own hearth and 
fireside. No man would even dare for an hour to leave his own 
habitation ; if he did, he would expect on his return to find his 
wife and children massacred. But the slaves, with but little 
more than the shadow of opposition before them, armed with the 
consciousness of superior force and superior numbers on their 
side, animated with the hope of liberty, and maddened with the 
spirit of revenge, embody themselves in every neighborhood and 
furiously march over the country, visiting every neighborhood 



3*2 OUR country's evils 

This, however, is not all ; it is a national evil, 
and the whole nation feels it in all its interests. 
What has produced such disastrous fluctuations 
in our national policy ? Which, the free or the 
slave-holding states — have filled, from the first, 

with all the horrors of civil war and bloodshed. And thus the 
yoke would be transferred from the black to the white man, and 
the master fall a bleeding victim to his own slave.'' 

The candor of the following confession, from the Maysville 
Intelligencer, is not more remarkable than the views it presents, 
are appalling. 

"We of the South are emphatically surrounded by a dangerous 
class of beings— degraded and stupid savages, who if they could 
but once entertain the idea, that immediate and unconditional 
death would not be their portion, would re-act the St. Domingo 
tragedy. But a consciousness, with all their stupidity, that a 
ten-fold force, superior in discipline, if not harharity^ would 
gather from the four corners of the United States, and slaughter 
them, keeps them in subjection. But to the 7wn-slave holding 
States particularly, are we indebted for a permanent safeguard 
against insurrection. Without their assistance the white popu- 
ulation of the South would be too weak to quiet the innate desire 
for liberty which is ever ready to act itself out with every rational 
creature." 

Nothing would be easier than to multiply such quotations, so 
as to fill many volumes. But the reader, who would see this 
whole sul)jcct di-cussed in a most masterly manner, and in a 
spirit eminently calm and christian, is referred to an Address, 
just i-sucd, by the venerable Judge W. Jat, to ''The No.v- 

SlAVEUOLDEUS." 



AND THEIR REMEDY. 33 

nearly all the importaat offices of the general 
government, and in this way controlled the na- 
tional policy ? Why have the interests of the 
north and the west been almost entirely neglec- 
ted in our commercial stipulations with other 
countries ? What has embarrassed and prostra- 
ted those institutions which are so vitally con- 
nected with their enterprise and their prosperity ? 
What has mainly produced such universal depre- 
ciation and suffering in the north and west ? 
Where are their debtors ? and what prospect is 
there that these will ever discharge even a moiety 
of their enormous obligations ? These are mo- 
mentous questions, and they can easily be an- 
swered by any one who has read the congressional 
speeches and reports made during the last few 
years by the ablest men of both parties, and 
looked into the diplomacy, and examined the sta- 
tistics of the general government. Such an one 
needs not be told how closely connected is our 
national suffering with our national oppression ; 
and he will have no confidence in any party 
measures, or in any system of policy which does 
not look to the root of the evil. 

We must never lose sight of the fact, that 
the subject now before us is not a sectional 



34 OUR country's evils 

nor a party, but an American question. It 
deeply concerns our whole country. So ob- 
viously true is this, that were it not for the artifi- 
ces of selfish demagogues who seek their own 
elevation by misleading the minds and exciting 
the fears of the people, we would all quickly 
think and feel alike upon it. But notwithstand- 
ing the clamor of unreasonable and wicked men, 
and the prejudices of honest though mistaken 
men, and the cunning craftiness of political lea- 
ders, the national discussion of this great nation- 
al evil, cannot be any longer smothered. It 
presses upon us at all points, and it must be met, 
and fairly settled. 

Let us then come to it, not as southern men or 
as northern men, not as whigs or democrats, not 
as friends of colonization or abolition ; but as 
Americans, Patriots, Christians of the nineteenth 
century. With such a spirit, though we should 
encounter diificulties, perhaps great difficulties, 
yet it would be treason against heaven and our 
country not to hope for a peaceful and a happy 
adjustment of the whole subject. Certain are 
we that unless in a way, and by means perfectly 
consistent with our constitutional compact, and 
with a Bible Christianity, we get rid of this root 



AND THEIR REMEDY. 35 

of bitterness, and wash off this foul blot from 
our national escutcheon, we cannot much longer 
remain a united people, or present to the world 
such a character as will command respect and 
imitation. 

Having thus depicted some of the evils of our 
country, we now turn to the more pleasing part 
of our task. 

II. We were in the second place, to point out 

THE REMEDY FOR OUR COUNTRy's EVILS. 

We have the most free and equal Constitution 
of any people on earth ; and we have, in accord- 
ance with our Constitution, very many good 
laws ; and multitudes confide in these to carry us 
onward to the highest state of national improve- 
ment and happiness. 

Our people have, almost from the first, been 
divided into large and respectable parties, advo- 
cating diverse measures of national policy. The 
great body of these parties has, without question, 
been pure and patriotic, and they have each, no 
doubt, sincerely believed that their country's 
best interest depended upon their success. 

We have done much to diffuse the benefits of 
education among the whole mass of our citizens; 



36 OUR country's evils 

and on this popular education the hopes of mul- 
titudes for the high character and welfare of our 
country are built. 

There is also among us a large number of Be- 
nevolent Societies, as the Bible, the Tract, the 
Temperance, the Prison Discipline, the Sunday 
School, the Colonization, the Abolition, the 
Moral Reform Society, and many others of va- 
rious characters and for various purposes. To 
some one or more of these do nearl}'- all the wise 
and the good of our land belong. And to the 
influence of these voluntary associations upon 
the virtue, the stability, and the happiness of 
our Republic, do multitudes look with the most 
sanguine expectations. 

Now we doubt not the excellence of the most 
of these societies, and we feel assured that the 
motives of their friends are pure, disinterest- 
ed, and exalted. We rejoice in the conviction 
that these societies have done much to bless our 
land, and that they will do abundantly more in 
the time to come. Still we do not believe that 
either our noble Constitution, and the laws made 
in pursuance thereof, or either of the great po- 
litical parties, or our beneficent school system, 
or the philanthropic associations of our land, — 



AND THEIR REMEDY. 



37 



we do not believe that any one, or all of these 
combined, will be sufficient, as now wielded, 
to save our republic. We cannot indeed do 
without them, and we could not esteem that man 
a consistent friend of our country, who would 
endeavor to impair their usefulness. We need, 
however, something more, something which, 
while It gives increased wisdom, energy, purity, 
and elevation to all the means of good now in 
progress among us, will bring into being and 
efficient operation very many m.ore. 

What then is this great desideratum ? — this 
only remedy for all our country's evils ? We 
answer, unhesitatingly,— it is a larger measure of 
Bible Christianity, — Bible Christianity. 
Despotism may stand without it. A limited 
monarchy may get along tolerably well with the 
paralyzed and effete Christianity of an established 
church. But a Bible Christianity is the 
ONLY Palladium of a free Government. 
It was for the want of this grand conservative 
principle that all the Republics which have gone 
before us, decayed and died. Either we must 
be kept in order by the iron hand of despotism, 
or at least restrained by such a police power as 
will greatly impair our liberty, or, we must 



OUR country's evils 

have a larger infusion of Bible Christianity. 

Without this, we shall speedily and utterly 

perish in our own corruption. 

Let us very briefly contemplate the abundant 

provision which the Christianity of the Bible 

offers, for all the ills of which we have spoken. 
1. Is there a wide spread departure from strict 

integrity ? 

But Bible Christianity inculcates exact justice 

to every one, a strict integrity in all our dealings. 

Let the great mass of the community be governed 
bv these teachings, and extravagance and v.ild 
speculation would give place to honest economy 
and prudent calculation. Men would abhor debt 
almost as much as sin ; and therefore each one 
would be careful to live within his means.* 
Public sentiment would become so upright that 
no man could retain his standing in respectable 
society who did not pay his debts, or show that 
his inability was not owing to any want of dis- 

* The writer may be pardoned on this occasion, for giving 
Utterance to feelings of filial reverence and gratiUide. He 
had a mother of strong mind and inflexible integrity. One of 
the earliest recoUccliuns of his childhood was a maxim from her 
li|)s, olt n-peated. It was this: '' BiHer go to bid siijjpcrlcss 
ihun rise up in dcOt" 'J'he lasting btnefits of suth instruc- 
tion one may acknowledge, but can never repay. () the 
Tcsponsibility of Paients for the future character and destiny of 
their children. 



AND THEIR REMEDY. 39 

cretion or carefulness on bis part. In such a 
community legislative repudiation would be im- 
possible, because rogues could not be found in 
sufficient number among our representatives to 
pass dishonest laws ; or, if any thing of this kind 
were attempted, a virtuous public sentiment 
would quickly frown it into annihilation. 

And then also, instead of reading now and 
then in the public prints of Mr. A. or Mr. B., 
who, having failed and taken the benefit of a 
bankrupt law, but afterwards, having succeeded 
in business, came forward and paid his creditors 
all their claims with interest, — instead, I say, of 
reading such cases, accompanied with editorial 
eulogies on the man for doing merely what was 
honest, — the thing \vould be too common to be 
noticed. The Christianity of the Bible would 
make men see that though human law may free 
us from the legal claim, it cannot discharge the 
moral obligation of debt. Hence payment in 
full, as soon as practicable, would be a univer- 
sally felt duty, and no man could be respected 
and treated as an honest man, who should at- 
tempt to evade this duty. 

2. A Bible Christianity also lays the axe at 
the root of all false social principles. To dwell 
only on those which we have noticed. 



40 OUR country's evils 

a. The demagogue lays it down as a princi- 
ple that there ought to be not merely political 
equality, or equality of rights, which is indeed 
perfectly just and fully provided for in our re- 
publican Constitutions, but what is quite another 
thing — equality of condition; — and because 
such equality does not exist he artfully endeav- 
ors, in order to serve his own selfish purposes, 
to stir up every bad passion of the poor against 
the rich, or, more strictly speaking, the poor 
against those who are only somewhat less poor 
themselves. For, in truth, we have no rich 
class among us, in the European sense of the 
term : neither have we any poor, — such as 
swarm in other countries. The distinction does 
not exist among us, and never can with our 
institutions ; neither, therefore, ought the odium. 
We are all, when thus viewed, of the middle 
class — only some are a little higher in the scale 
of mediocrity than others. Such is almost uni- 
versally our state. 

Still the Bible assures u?, that the poor shall 
not wholly cease out of the land; and by its full 
and rich moral instructions on this point, and, 
above all, by that honor which the Savior's lowly- 
birth and life put upon poverty, abundant pro- 
vision is made to take away all envy and discon- 



AND THEIR REMEDY. 41 

tent out of the heart of the poor man, and to im- 
plant in the bosom of the rich every sentiment 
of respect and kindness for honest poverty. 

b, A Bible Christianity also teaches us, 
that the right of property has a foundation 
deeper than human law, even the will of Him 
who constituted man with a sense of property, 
which, like most other parts of his intellectual 
and moral nature, is developed long before he 
could mark its rise. Human law can only reg- 
ulate its tenure, and transfer. Wherever there- 
fore a Bible Ciiristianity has control over the 
popular mind, the right of property will be felt 
to be sacred, and none will be disposed to violate 
it either without, or under the sanction of human 
law. Hence to take property from another, or 
to withhold property ourselves merely because 
the law by some technicality, or unjust provision, 
gives it to us, — a Bible Christianity teaches us 
to regard as dishonest and wicked. 

c. cL In respect to the sentiment that 
government is founded on mutual compact, and 
the irreverent, reckless spirit which springs from 
this sentiment, and the opposition to capital pun- 
ishment which grows out of it ; and in respect 
also to the sentiment that the reason or ground 
4* 



42 



OUR country's evils 



of all punishment is to protect society, or to pre- 
vent crime, or to uphold government, or to re- 
form the offender, or to obtain, if possible, all 
these advantages ; — in respect we say to both 
these sentiments the Bible is full and clear. They 
cannot stand a moment's honest examination in 
the light of eternal truth. The teachings of a 
Bible Christianity here are explicit, abundant, and 
solemn. "Let every soul be subject unto the 
higher powers. For there is no power but of 
God ; the powers that be are ordained of God. 
Whoever, therefore, resisteth the power resisteth 
the ordinance of God : and they that resist, shall 
receive to themselves damnation. For rulers 
are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. 
Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power ? do 
that which is good, and thou shall have praise 
of the same ; for he is the minister of God to 
thee for good. But if thou do that wliich is 
evil, be afraid ; for he beareth not the sword in 
vain : for he is the minister of God, a revenger 
to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. 
Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only 
for wrath, but also for conscience sake. For, for 
this cause pay ye tribute also, for they are God's 
ministers, attending continually upon this very 
thing. Render, therefore, to all their dues ; tri- 



AND THEIR REMEDY. 43 

bute to whom tribute is due ; custom to whom 
custom ; fear to whom fear ; honor to whom 
honor." (Rom. xiii. 1 — 7.) "At the hand of 
every man's brother will I require the life of 
man. Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man 
shall his blood be shed : for in the image of God 
made he man." (Gen. ix. 5 — 6.) " Ye shall 
take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer, 
W'hich is guilty of death ; but he shall surely be 
put to death. '^ (Numbers, xxxv\ 31.) " Blood 
defileth the land : and the land cannot be clean- 
sed of the blood that is shed therein, but by the 
blood of him that shed it." (33.) " If I be an 
offender, or have committed any thing worthy 
of death, I refuse not to die." (Acts, xxv. 11.) 

Here we learn that though the form and the ad- 
ministration of government are of man, yet that 
government itself is of God ; that the magistrate 
regularly constituted is God's minister, a reven- 
ger to execute wrath upon him Ihat doeth evil ; 
that crimes arc to be punished, not because it is 
expedient, but because it is just ; and that we are 
bound to render all due honor and obedience to 
the powers that be, not only for wrath or fear of 
liuman retribution, but also for conscience to- 
w^ards God. We see also that the divine com- 
mand to put the murderer to death was given to 



44 OUR country's evils 

Noah, the second head of the human family , 
that under the following dispensation it was in- 
directly reaffirmed by the injunction to allow no 
satisfaction or substituted penalty for his crime ; 
and that the original ordinance, so far from having 
been repealed, is clearly recognized in the New 
Testament also as a divine constitution, — " the 
magistrate beareth not the sword in vain," says 
the apostle, " he is the minister of God, a reven- 
ger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil." 
" If I be an offender," says the same apostle, 
^^ or have committed any thing worthy of death, 
I refuse not to die.^^ We learn also that it is 
no light thing to permit crime logo unpunished; 
that the community who do so, involve them- 
selves in great guilt, and call down heaven's 
judgments upon the land. Who knows to what 
extent our present embai'rassments and disasters 
may have been permitted to come upon \\^, un- 
der a righteous providence, on account of that 
relaxation of all law, and especially that impunity 
of blood-guiltiness which we have suffered to 
spread over the land ?* 

* The time of enacting the divine law concerning \\w punish- 
ment of murder, and tlie circuinstanros both preceding and 
attending its promulgation, would seem to unply that this ordi- 
nance had not previou.^ly existed. If so, the result of the experi- 
ment among our fallen race was fearful, — ''all flesh corrupted its 
"way, and t/ic earth icas filled ivHli violuicey Nothing but the 
waters of a deluge could wash out its guilty stains. Immediately 



AND THEIR REMEDY. 45 

3. A Bible Christianity will furnish the only 
sufficient remedy for political corruption. 

The morality of the world, low as it ordina- 
rily is, becomes much more so in politics. Hence, 
as politicians, men will do what they would de- 
spise or abhor in the other relations of life. But 
the Christianity of the Bible allows no such dis- 
tinctions. It never relaxes its hold upon us, or 
lowers its claim ; it is the same in all places and 
at all times. It enjoins upon us by the most 
solemn and heart-affecting motives to be sincere, 
truthful, candid, and honest in every situation. 

Whoever would see this influence of a Bible 
Christianity beautifully exemplified, let him con- 
template the life and character of William Wil- 
berforce. He was upright, frank, kind-hearted, 
courteous in private life, and equally so in the 
canvass, and in the senate of his country. With 
powers of sarcasm rarely equalled, he most mag- 
nanimously forbore to use them. He was ever 
ready to draw the mantle of charity over the de- 
fects of opponents ; and few things seemed to 
give him more pleasure than to point out their 
excellences. Through evil report and through 
good, his ear was ever open and his tongue never 



after this tremendous judgment it was ordained—" at the hand 
of every man's brother will I require the life of man. Whoso 
shedeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed,'' 



46 OUR country's evils 

mute in the cause of the oppressed. But no in- 
dividual friendship, nor party attachment, much 
less personal aggrandisement, could induce him 
to swerve from that line of conduct which his 
country's best interests appeared to require. 

The results of this truly christian course are 
equally well known, instructive, and gratifying. 
He acquired an influence with the administration, 
and the opposition, and with all classes of society 
which no other individual ever possessed. All 
delighted to honor him. But the fame of the 
christian patriot and philanthropist could not be 
confined to his own country, it extended through- 
out the earth. And that crown of glory which a 
Bible Christianity placed upon the brow of Wil- 
berforce, will never fade away ; as ages roll on, 
it will continue, with a mild and holy lustre, to 
guide, and gladden, and bless the human family. 

4. lias a spirit of lawlessness gone over the 
land ? It needs hardly be said that a Bible Chris- 
tianity is utterly opposed to such a spirit. Its 
precepts on this subject are plain, full, and solemn. 
It denounces the heaviest condemnation upon 
those who resist lawful authority. It forbids all 
revenge ; and inculcates by motives the most 
weighty and heart touching, a meek, peaceful, 
forbearing, and forgiving spirit. It would be ut- 



AND THEIR REMEDY. 47 

terly impossible to raise a mob in a community 
where the Christianity of the Bible had para- 
mount control. Violence would be unknown 
there. 

5. Is a recklessness of life and property one 
of the evils of the day ? The Christianity of 
the Bible teaches us to be as tender of the life 
and the interests of our neighbor as of our own. 
Hence it supplies the only effectual remedy for 
that recklessness of life and property which has 
become so universal in our land. 

Where the heart of a man is under the influ- 
ence of a Bible Christianity, he will feel the infi- 
nite importance of life, and how sacred are the 
rights of others ; and therefore when these are 
committed to him, he will be most conscientiously 
careful of the trust. Hence in a community 
controlled by the Christianity of the Bible, all 
those disasters which proceed from carelessness, 
from a want of proper regard for the welfare of 
others, from an unduly exciting and blinding 
competition, and from intemperance, — that is, 
nine out of every ten of our present disasters, 
we verily believe, would be prevented. 

6. The Christianity of the Bible would deliver 
us from almost all those evils which now grow 
out of inadequate legal protection and redress. 



48 OUR couis^trt's evils 

It would bring about this happy result by so 
elevating the tone of public morals that legisla- 
tures would be compelled to make provision 
against multitudes of injuries which are now 
either entirely passed over, or but very slightly 
punished. And the tone of public morals so 
elevated, Vv^ould not only produce, but sustain and 
carry out these wholesome laws. 

A Bible Christianity would also do away that 
false sentiment, now so general, that scarcely any 
thing is to be protected besides life, but materi- 
al property. Our dollars are pretty well guard- 
ed by law. But we have other interests besides 
those of money, other rights than those of pro- 
perty. A man may inflict worse evils on ano- 
ther than he can feel from the finger of the pick- 
pocket or the knife of the assassin. Evils which 
may imbitter his whole life, and not only so, but 
spread lasting shame and mourning over a whole 
family. And yet these injuries, strange to say, 
are now almost entirely overlooked, or so inade- 
quately guarded against, that tlieir commission 
is a matter of every day occurence, and their 
punishment a very rare thing. Take for exam- 
ple, crimes against chastity. These do not, it is 
true, make their wretched victim poorer in purse, 
nor do they directly destroy life, and therefore 



AND THEIR REMEDY. 49 

the perpetrator walks at large, and is rarely 
thought the worse of. But these are as much 
offences in the light of a Bible Christianity, as 
those committed against life or property ; and a 
community under the influence of this light, will 
certainly so regard and punish them. 

It is thus the Christianity of the Bible would 
most effectually remove all those occasions which 
are now unhappily so common, of broils, assassi- 
nations, duels, and mobs. 

And where, owing to human imperfection, 
human law could afford neither protection nor 
redress, the Christianity of the Bible would so 
enlighten the minds and rectify the disorderly 
wills and affections of men, as in a great measure 
to prevent the infliction of these evils, or pro- 
duce in return, meekness, forbearance, kindness 
instead of hot resentment, or murderous revenge. 

7. The Christianity of the Bible supplies a 
perfect remedy for oppression. 

The principles of the Bible on this subject are 
very plain, definite, and all-comprehensive. 
" Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." 
"Do unto others as ye would they should do 
unto you.'' 

Now- if we really love our neighbor, we shall 

at least give him his own, and we shall care- 
5 



50 OUR country's evils 

fully avoid inflicting ills upon him. And what 
he has a right to consider his own, and feel as an 
ill, we cannot long be at a loss to know, if we 
sincerely make his case our own. That any 
man, for example, would be willing that he and 
his posterity for ever should be stripped of all 
rights — reduced to a mere chattel — bought and 
sold as horses and oxen, — is a supposition too 
monstrous to be entertained a single moment. 
Such a professed willingness would argue down- 
right insanity. Who of us would not " resist 
unto blood, striving against'^ any attempt to in- 
flict upon him and his the thousandth part of 
such oppression ? In comparison with these ills, 
those wrongs for which our fathers endured the 
hardships and fought the battles of the revolu- 
tion, are as the small dust on the balance to the 
cloud-capped mountain. 

But besides these plain principles of the Bible, 
its whole tenor and spirit are utterly opposed to 
oppression in all its forms. Only let the requi- 
sitions of a Bible Christianity be faithfully car- 
ried out, and oppression would be swept from 
the face of the earth. And we believe that it 
will; — we believe, on the sure ground of pro- 
phecy, that the day is coming, when " the wolf 
shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall 



AND THEIR REMEDY. 51 

!ie down with the kid j and the calf, and the 
young Hon, and the fatling together : and a little 
child shall lead them. And the cow and the 
bear shall feed ; their young ones shall lie down 
together : and the lion shall cat straw like an ox. 
And the sucking child shall play on the hole of 
the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand 
on the cockatrice den. They shall not hurt nor 
destroy in all my holy mountain.'^ But all the 
wonders of the latter day glory, here metaphori- 
cally described, will be — not a miraculous devel- 
opment, — but simply the results o^ Bible truth 
believed and obeyed. " For the earth," adds 
the Prophet, "shall then be full of the know- 
ledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." 
The law of love will then rule in the hearts of 
men. And we can no more conceive of oppres- 
sion than of drunkenness, or robbery, in this 
latter day glory of a Bible Christianity, " Love 
worketh no ill to his neighbor." 

Such then are the principles of a Bible 
Christianity. They lay the axe at the root of 
every evil. They direct and encourage to all 
that is good. Human ignorance and human de- 
pravity can resist every other means, and will 
grow and strengthen till liberty is utterly impos- 
sible, and despotism is a nation's only refuge • 



52 OUR country's evils 

Such is the uniform testimony of history. Why 
did the free Roman gladly bow down to the scep- 
tre of Augustus ? It was to escape evils vastly 
more terrible than any that he could inflict. 

" O navis, referent in mare te novi 
FJuctus. Oquidagis] fortiter occupa 
Portum.'' {Horat. Carm. Lib. 1, Od. xiv.) 

This is pathetic poetry ; it is more, it is 
profound, political philosophy. The republic, 
tossed and shattered on the conflicting waves of 
private passions and public corruption, welcomed 
the repose of imperial power. But we, thank 
heaven, have in our midst, what the free govern- 
ments of other da3-s never had, — we have an 
anchor sure and steadfast, — we have the Chris- 
tianity of the Bible. 

Let none then despair of the Republic. 

We know indeed that there are too many who, 
if they do not despair, have yet little faith in our 
political institutions.* But the attachment of 

* Few things are more painful to the christian patriot, than 
the doubts and the despondency expressed by some of the most 
gifted minds among us, concerning our country and its pros- 
pects. 

In a Massachusetts quarterly periodical of very high character, 
one of her ablest sons has given a most humiliating, but, as we 
believe, unfair contrast, between our republican institutions and 
those of the oldorder^ as exhibited in monarchical and aristocratic 
countries. 

In a work of the same kind, published in the city of New 
York, is a long and very elaborate article of a similar character. 
The writer of it represents our Republic as a pooj' ciffair, and 
one manifestly destined to a speedy end. 



AND THEIR REMEDY. 53 

the people to the republic is yet unshaken ; they 
believe that it is good — and that it will continue. 
We would strengthen this confidence, because it 
alone can stimulate to patriotic exertion ; it 
must lie at the foundation of every effort to 
benefit and perpetuate the Republic. Without 
this confidence, all is lost. 

Do not then, fellow citizens, despair of the 
Republic. Your hearts must indeed be pained 
in view of the evils of our country ; but be not 
shaken in mind. There is indeed a wide-spread 
departure from strict integrity; false social prin- 
ciples are seduously propagated ; political wick- 
edness abounds ; crimes multiply, and too often 
go unpunished ; the land groans under oppres- 
sion, and the voice of entreaty is not heard : a 
spirit of infatuation has gone abroad, dividing 
and distracting our counsels, and bringing uni- 
versal embarrassment and distress upon us, in 
the midst of peace, and health, and fruitful 
seasons. Our own folly has thus almost nulli- 

And, we are pained to add, that even that venerable patriot of 
the revolution, the learned Noah Webster, in tho volume of his 
Miscellaneous Writings, just issued, expresses himself on this 
subject in terms not very flattering or encouraging. 

But may we not, lyiust we not see, in the testimonies of these 
good and intelligent men, some things to awaken our serious 
thoughts 1 Is there no cause for their complaints and their 
apprehensions ] Well will it be if they arouse us to more tho- 
rough and vigorous efforts to reform existing evils. 
5* 



54 OUR country's evils 

fied the signal blessing of a kind Providence. 
When you consider these things, and call to 
mind the history of the ancient republics, and of 
those of the middle ages, you tremble for your 
country, and are ready to give up all hope. 
Dark apprehensions crowd upon you, dis- 
union, civil war, burnings, massacres, despotism 
wadino; to a throne throuo;h seas of blood. And 
all these calamities, terrible as they are, would 
doubtless soon be upon us, and overwhelm us, 
as they did the Grecian, the Roman, and the 
Italian republics, — were it not for that grand con- 
servative principle which we have in our midst. 
Ours is the Christianity of the Bible. And it 
has in it abundant power to uphold and perpet- 
uate free institutions. It can disperse all our 
delusions, and unite our counsels, and inspire us 
with such wisdom, and energy, and uprightness 
of purpose, as will render our unparalleled na- 
tional privileges and advantages really blessings 
to us. It is able to do for us what nothing else 
can, and for want of which all preceding re- 
publics perished ; it can diffuse and maintain 
among our people that high character of intelli- 
gence and virtue which will be sure to give us 
good laws, and equally sure to uphold them. 
Let each one, then, strive to bring himself — 



AND THEIR REMEDY. 55 

all his views, feelings, and ways, under the influ- 
ence of the Christianity of the Bible ; and faith- 
fully labor, in his sphere, to extend this peaceful, 
purifying, elevating influence, through all hearts, 
and through every movement about him. 

See to it that the Bible is in all our educa- 
tional institutions, — from the common school up 
to the colleges and universities, — and that its 
light and spirit be infused into their discipline 
and studies. 

Give no countenance to false social principles, 
or party means and measures which are at war 
with the wisdom and the uprightness of the 
Bible. Vote for no man who does not disclaim 
such principles, and openly set himself against 
such means and measures. Support only those 
who will honestly endeavor to bring up our laws 
to the equity and the purity of Heaven's legis- 
lation.* Throw the full weight of your influ- 
ence into the scale in favor of law and order. 



* We never were more sensibly impressed with the duty of 
endeavoring to make just laws than in reading an opinion of 
Judge M'Lean, of the Supreme Court of the United Slates, in 
the case of Jones vs. Vanzant, which was recently tried in this 
city. It was an action brought by the plaintilf, a citizen of 
Kentucky, against the defendant, a citizen of Ohio ; under the 
act of Congress, in regard to fugitives from labor. 

« It is admitted," says the Judge, " by almost all who have 
examined the subject, (slavery) to be founded ik" wroxo, 

IN OPPRESSION, IN POWER AGAINST IIIGUT." IIoVV atrOcioUsly 

wicked must that be of which such language could be justly 



56 OUR country's evils 

Let all our benevolent institutions aim to 
come fully up to the lofty principles and charita- 
ble spirit of a Bible Christianity. This would 
increase ten-fold their strength to do good, and 
unite then in a sacred, invincible brotherhood. 

Keep away from the pulpit every shackle 
which a worldly expediency, and the fear of man, 
and a thousand other unholy influences, are con- 
tinually endeavoring to throw about it. Let the 
boldness, as well as the meekness and lowliness of 
a Bible Christianity, take complete possession of 
it ; and then the Word of God cannot be bound : 
it will never be timidly or treacherously brought 
into alliance with falsehood, oppression, and 
wrong. The minister will lift up his voice, and 
cry aloud, and spare not, and shew the people 
their transgressions. Esteem the man who does 
this, very highly in love for his work's sake. 

This we believe is the only way to save our 
country. We must take our minds off from all 
other confidences. We must grasp the Christi- 
anity of the Bible more firmly in our hands, and 



used ! And how must the nation who upholJs such an evil, 
appear in the sight of Him who is of purer eyes, than to behold 
iniquity. Surely it behooves cacii one of us, as he values the 
peace, prosperity and character of his country, honestly to en- 
deavor to bring up our laws to the equity and the purity of 
Heaven's legislation. 



AND THEIR REMEDY. 57 

press it more closely to our bosoms, and pour it 
more largely into every channel of influence, 
social, political, and religious. 

It is because we believe that so many are be- 
ginning to awake to the truth and the importance 
of these views, that we can entertain a good hope 
for the Republic. 

Education is certainly becoming more decided- 
ly christian. Temperance is marching on from 
conquest to conquest. The Press begins to utter a 
louder and clearer remonstrance against the law- 
less and reckless spirit of the tim.es. The different 
religious denominations are putting forth more 
strenuous efforts to multiply the means, and ex- 
tend the benefits of christian education. And 
christian men, and christian ministers too, begin 
to see more clearly their duty to go to the polls, 
and carry their Christianity thither, and to put 
forth their influence in all that concerns the 
social and political well being of their country. 
Even politicians begin to feel that these things 
are so. Hence they are trimming their sails ac- 
cordingly. They endeavor to appear the friends 
of temperance, and of the Sabbath, and of chris- 
tian institutions generally, whilst their lives are 
too often in sad contradiction. 

But as a Bible Christianity, notwithstanding 



58 OUR country's evils 

the dark bodings of some, has wonderfully grown 
with the growth of our Republic; and has hith- 
erto proved itself more than a match for those 
rapid and multiform developments of evil which 
are the necessary concomitants of our perfect 
freedom, — so we doubt not but that this grand con- 
servative influence will wax stronger and stronger 
among us.* It will nullify the power of bad men, 
and purge out error, and purify public sentiment, 
and elevate the laws, — and cause truth, and peace, 
and righteousness, to prevail in all our borders. 

We rejoice that God in his wise providence, 
has made us the depositary of the great princi- 
ples of civil and religious liberty. So high an 
honor he has never put upon any other people. 
And confident are we that in the gift of his word 



* The infidel influence of French revolutionary principles 
upon the public mind of our country, was perhaps most strongly 
manifested between the years 1798 and 1810. This was em- 
phatically our period of struggle between the light of truth and 
the powers of darkness. The latter obtained a temporary tri- 
umph in the hij:h places of the nation ;— though not, we believe, 
among the great majority of the people. They were still sound 
at heart. Hence a reaction soon took place, and the Christianity 
of the Bible has since gone on rapidly regaining that ascendancy 
which it possessed during the wir of independence, and through- 
out the administration of Washington. 

Whoever would learn the spirit and (he principle.: which guif!ed 
and sustained our fathers of the revolution and the founders of our 
republic, let him carefully read the journals of the Revolutionary 
Congress, and the Messages and Farewell Address of Washing- 
ton. He will there see the God of the Bible solemnly recognized, 
his direction implored, his righteous judgments deprecated, his 
mercies and benefits gratefully acknowledged. 



AND THEIR REMEDY. 59 

he has bestowed upon us the means and the 
pledge of our national salvation. If the nations 
of Europe under the oppressive weight of mon- 
archical rule, and privileged orders, and aristo- 
cratic institutions, have, with a Christianity en- 
feebled and corrupted by church establishments, 
done so much for their intellectual, moral, and 
social improvement, what may we not expect 
here where the energies of the people are all 
free, and a free Christianity is among them to en- 
lighten, and elevate, and bless ? 

In the short period of our national existence 
we have already accomplished more than centu- 
ries have brought to pass, among any other 
people. The soberest picture of our country's 
progress, — its noble cities, and countless towns, 
and villages every day springing up ; its teem- 
ing population ; its new States some larger than 
European kingdoms, pressing for admission into 
the union ; its vast public works of internal im- 
provement ; its rapidly multiplying resources and 
productions ; its Schools, Colleges, Churclics, 
and Benevolent Institutions; and all these spread- 
ing over what was but yesterday a wilderness, 
the abode of the Indian and the panther, — the 
soberest picture of these things is regarded with 



60 OUR country's evils and their remedy. 

incredulity on the other side of the Atlantic* 
But it is all true. And we see the wonderful 
reality, as if by magic, springing into being all 
around us. And we shall doubtless behold grea- 
ter miracles than these. We are but in the morn- 
ing of our existence. We now see only the 
first-fruits of a glorious harvest. What will not 
a free Christianity yet do for a free people ? Our's, 
if faithful to our trust, is a lofty destiny. We 
are a city set upon a hill. Other nations behold, 
and wonder, and imitate. Our example has sent 
out an influence to the ends of the earth, and it 
will not cease to work in the hearts of every 
people till all are made free with that holy liberty 
wherewith the truth alone can make men free. 



* Some thirteen years since, in this city, the author, after 
preaching, was met al the foot of the pulpit stairs by a well dres- 
sed stranger. He introduced himself as the Rev. Mr. . He 

was a foreigner, and had resided about two years in the northern 
part of this valley, and was then on his return to the land of his 
nativity. Upon the hope being expressed that he vvas not leav- 
ing the United States because disappointed in his expectations, 
" O no," he replied, with the characteristic ardor and frankness of 
an Irishman, " I see thriving towns and villages rising in all 
parts of Ohio, and more than a million of people spread over its 
surface where all was the abode of savages and wild-beasts, and 
not a white resident found till the year — 85. There is nothing 
like this in the old country. Were I to describe it to them by 
letter they would not believe it. It would be utterly incredible 
to those among whom ages scarcely make any perceptible change. 
To be believed, I must go back myself, and tell them what my 
eyes have seen." He did so, and returned again to share with us 
in the solemn responsibilities and precious blessings of a free 
government and a free Christianity. 

This, it is believed, describes the case of thousands who are 
annually flocking to our shores from other lands. 



/^ 



LB Mr 10 



! 



